Stephen Perrine - The Womens Health Diet: 27 Days to Sculpted Abs, Hotter Curves & a Sexier, Healthier You!

For Jennifer

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

If youre a reader of Womens Health, then you already know that my team of editors and I are obsessed with helping women reach their fitness, weight loss, and nutrition goals. Every month, we scour the latest studies in prestigious journals, interview dozens of the countrys top experts, and, most important, we actually practice what the experts preachin the gym, in the kitchen, even in the officeso that we can serve as guinea pigs before passing their tips on to you. Our taskno, our missionis to deliver the most authoritative, evidence-based advice on how to look and feel your best. Were not interested in fads and gimmicks that might work in the short term but set you up for failure in the long run. Were interested in results. And over the last decade, weve learned a thing or two about what works and what doesnt when you want to lose weight and feel great.

Weve learned that starvation only backfires, that you need enough of the right foodsand at the right timesto turn your body into a lean, flab-fighting machine. (And instead of counting calories, you can simply follow seven simple rules for eating that we call the Secrets of the Slim.) Weve learned that grueling workouts can discourage rather than motivate, and that you only need to exercise three times a week for 30 minutes a day to shed fat and sculpt and tone your body. And weve learned that limiting yourself to bland, boring foods just isnt necessaryyou can eat at your favorite restaurants, from Red Lobster to White Castle, and still stay slim (provided you pick from our list of the 250 Best Foods for Women.)

The Womens Health Diet takes all our research and experience and distills it into one simple program. Because heres what else weve learned: Women are incredibly industrious and busy creatures. Between demanding jobs and family and significant others, we can barely get to the grocery store much less embark on an all-consuming new fitness regime. Above all other considerations, the Womens Health Diet was designed to be pragmaticto give you real results instead of pie-in-the-sky hypotheticals. Thats why we put the Womens Health Diet to the test first with a group of women with a variety of goals. Some wanted to lose weight, some wanted to firm up, some wanted a flat bellybut the fact that they were all able to reach their targets speaks to the reliability and versatility of this program. (Youll read their compelling stories in the following pages.)

Im pleased and proud to introduce you to the Womens Health Diet. Consider it your ultimate guide to getting the body youve always wanted. Because after all, its good to be you.

Michele Promaulayko
Editor-in-Chief
Womens Health

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

One summers day in 1991, while taking out the recycling, I glanced down at the newspaper and saw an advertisement for a junior-level job at a new magazine called Mens Health, the brother publication of a future publishing powerhouse called Womens Health. I drove my family out to Emmaus, Pennsylvania, to apply.

I didnt get that job.

Luckily, another position opened up at the magazine soon after, and from that moment on, Ive been fortunate to work with the greatest team of journalists, publishers, and health-care professionals ever assembled. In particular:

Maria Rodale and the Rodale family, who have been fighting to awaken us to the connection between our health and our environment for more than 60 years. I hope this book brings readers one step closer to realizing a healthier future.

David Zinczenko, whose support, encouragement, and grace under pressure have made possible my endeavors, and those of many others, at Rodale Inc.

Michele Promaulayko, under whose leadership Womens Health has blossomed into an extraordinary magazine adventure.

My brilliant co-author, Leah Flickinger.

George Karabotsos, Debbie McHugh, Laura White, Mark Michaelson, Mike Smith, Theresa Dougherty, Ruth Davis Konigsberg, Ursula Cary, Mike Zimmerman, and the team at Mens Health Books.

The editors of Mens Health and Womens Health magazines, especially Adam Bornstein and Adam Campbell, for their exercise expertise; Clint Carter, for his nutrition insights; Bill Phillips and Steve Borkowski for their Web and marketing support; and Lisa Bain and Peter Moore, for their inspiring calm and professionalism.

The staff of Best Life magazine, especially Heather Hurlock, whose contribution to this book was invaluable.

Chris Krogermeier, Beth Lamb, Erin Williams, and the team at Rodale Books.

Fotoulla Euripidou, Meridith Lampert, and Philavong Chanda for their dedication to getting just the facts, maam. Allison Falkenberry, Agnes Hansdorfer, Brett LeVecchio, Erin Clinton, and Allison Keane, who have helped us to spread the word about the Womens Health Diet.

Elaine Kaufman, for her heaping plates of wisdom and encouragement.

And my daughters Dominique, Anas, and Zo, without whom I would have a lot more moneyand a lot less joy.

INTRODUCTION

WIN THE WAR ON FAT
Its time to gain control of your weight with the Womens Health Secrets of the Slim.

Inside your body, at this very moment, theres a war going on: a battle between the cells that make up muscle and those that make up fat.

On one side (the good side) is Muscle. Think of Muscle as your closest BFF, one who loans you her most flattering going-out top because she knows that the better you look, the more you both outshine all the other girls and the more you both get noticed.

Contrary to what you might think, Muscle does not want to make you look big and bulky. Thats what Fat does. Fat is like that passive-aggressive frenemy who always says no even when those pants do make your butt look big. Muscle, on the other hand, keeps your belly flat, your backside firm, and your body burning calories.

Fat hates Muscle, and the feeling is mutual. Fat wants to get rid of Muscle so it can make room for more of its muffin-top-making, energy-sucking friends inside your body. Muscle wants to do away with Fat so it can torch all incoming calories and keep you looking slim and fab.

You know which side youre rooting for. But heres the problem: In this war, Fat will always have an unfair advantage. The only way Muscle can win is with your help.

The Womens Health Diet will show you how to win that battle. It will help you build muscle and burn away fat while eating the very best food on the planet and never, ever feeling hungry. It will make you stronger, sexier, leaner, and healthier than youve ever been before. And it will start to take effect, well, pretty much from your very first bite.

Ready to dig in?

A Better You, Fast

When you first picked up this book and took a glance at the flawless body of that woman on the cover, your first thought might have been, This is going to be really hard. She seems too freakin perfect, doesnt she, with that impossibly flat midsection? Being like that chick is totally out of reach, right?

HOT TIPS

10 TIPS THAT CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE IN 10 SECONDS OR LESS

1 Drink your milk. Think youre getting a nutritional boost from your morning cereal? Up to 40 percent of the vitamins in fortified cereals dissolve in the milk. If you dont drink the leftover cow juice, youre not getting the fancy-pants nutrients!